Live fast, die young: the story of Mat …. an illegal racer

   There he lay; still without motion with a pool of blood underneath him. Covered only by yesterday papers. One only could feel sad about what has happen. One on looker said “he’s too young to die.” While other, feel the opposite way.

His name is Mat (just called him that for now). He loves to race. He thinks that is the only thing that he do best. He is no pro; on the contrary he is just a regular Joe with a bike. When he is on the road, he rode his bike like the devils has possessed his soul. He likes to do stunts like the ones people see on TV or movies. He entertains onlookers with his reckless stunts & sometimes some do give him a cheer of encouragement. Heck, he thinks he is the Malaysian version of “evil-knevil”.

Sue (let called her that for now) is his girlfriend. He won Sue at a race a few months ago. Sue is your typical teenage runaways; problematic family background, seeking loves in all the wrong places & so on. Sue is 3 month pregnant with Mat child. The things is, Sue don’t know how to break the news to Mat. She thinks about aborting the child, but her motherly instinct told her otherwise. Mat is still in the dark about the whole pregnancy thing, just enjoying his life with Sue as crazy as they use to.

Mat has a steady job as dispatch for a government license company. He loves his job dearly. He love it so much, that he could send a package to the farthest part of KL in lest then 10 minutes (how’s that for Datuk-ship??). Even though his job gives him a minimum wage, his true income comes from his racing escaped. For just one night of racing, he can get almost three times more than his regular paycheck. Why he still stay as a dispatch?? … One could only guess. All the money he get, he pour half of it to his beloved bike & the rest is for paying the hedonistic live style that he & Sue been living.

One fatefully day, he was challenging to a race by some sore loser that he beaten a few days back. He cockily agrees to the race. Knowing strongly that he can easily win the race, he never tunes up his bike for that momentous occasion. Instead of powering his bike, he & Sue do a few lines of coke before the race start (talk about being really cocky). Some “experience” race pundits say that Mat will win for sure, other just rooting for the underdog. The race start, Mat was leading far from his competitor. He is all smiles. While speeding through the road, Mat would sometime slow down a bit & enjoy the beautiful night scenery. His challenger is closing down on him, “no fear,” said Mat in his heart. “I will beat this SOB & put so much shame on him, eventually he’ll give up racing forever,” joke Mat in his head, not knowing what would happen next.

As Mat speed furiously towards the finish line, he felt something with his “baby” (his bike). He has loose control of it, the more speed the bike gets, more unstable it becomes. All of a sudden, he felt a “chug” on his bike. He went to the other lane way too fast to avoid the 8 wheel truck that is now in front of him. At that moment, flashes of thought went to his cranium. The last word that he spoke is “fuck.”

I sat down at the road side, beside Mat ghostly figure. “What I do wrong man?” he ask. I utter no word to him. As I light a cigarette, the only thing I could say is “perghhhhhhhh, hell of a way to die man!” Then the ghost left.

FIN